From the beginning of the week, temperatures had reached 112 every day. But that was down in the valley, and in the shade. Up here, exposed on the hardpan, he could easily add five more degrees to that figure. In combinations of leisure and speed he worked his way in a more or less straight line toward a steep swell of sandstone that rose up into the sky and blocked from view whatever lay beyond. At its foot, the boulders became smaller and fewer. Further up, they lessened and eventually ended altogether. Elias paused a moment and contemplated whether or not his feet could withstand the ascent without first resting and then climbed down into the shade of three large boulders that had propped themselves together. He gasped and pressed his hands and face against the shaded stone as if trying to absorb and store the meager coolness it had to offer.

--from "Mythic" by Craig Deininger